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The Calgary Flames stepped on the ice — for the pre-game warmup only — in green jerseys.

When they left the ice about three hours later, they were green with envy.

The Flames didn’t have any lucky charms on St. Patrick’s Day, suffering a 4-0 setback to the St. Louis Blues at the Saddledome, and — after a tough night on the out-of-town scoreboard — also losing their grip on a playoff spot in the NHL’s Western Conference.

When the Flames check the standings Wednesday morning, they’ll find themselves in ninth, although there’s no need to panic with a dozen dates remaining on their regular-season slate.

“We have to battle back,” said Flames head coach Bob Hartley. “No one will give us their spot. We’ll have to earn it. We knew it right from the start. We faced adversity, we battled all year, so we will not change.

“I have all the faith in the world in my players, it’s a great group, and I know one thing — we can count on them battling to the end.”

They battled right to the end Tuesday against the Blues but ultimately made too many mistakes to beat a tough, talented troupe that showed why it’s considered a top contender to sip from the Stanley Cup in June.

The Flames (38-27-5) and the Los Angeles Kings now have 81 points apiece, but the defending champions from SoCal are sitting in third in the Pacific Division thanks to a game in hand.

Elsewhere, the Winnipeg Jets notched a victory Tuesday over the San Jose Sharks, leapfrogging the Flames and moving into the final wild-card position with 82 points. Thanks to a triumph of their own on St. Patty’s Day, the seventh-place Minnesota Wild now have 85 points, while the Vancouver Canucks also posted a ‘W’ and continue to sit second in the Pacific with 84 points.

“There’s a lot of hockey to be played,” reminded Flames forward Joe Colborne. “We’re right in the thick of it. We take care of our business, again, we’ll be in the playoffs.”

Try as they might, they couldn’t take care of business in Tuesday’s tight-checking affair against the Blues.

Alexander Steen potted a pair for the out-of-towners, while Jori Lehtera contributed the key tally just 1:18 after the second intermission, giving the Blues a 2-0 lead shortly after teammate Vladimir Tarasenko swiped an attempted pass by Flames blueliner TJ Brodie.

Steen’s second of the night would essentially seal it, and although Hartley summoned netminder Jonas Hiller to the bench with more than eight minutes to go to send out an extra attacker, Blues captain David Backes would score into an empty net and backstop Brian Elliott was able to put the finishing touches on a 25-save shutout.

“I thought we played an OK game, but they were just better,” Hiller said. “They don’t give up too much in their own end. Not too many turnovers. They were able to hold onto the puck in the offensive zone and kind of wear us down. Two turnovers, which cost us. After that, it’s even tougher to play against them.

“They sit back and wait until you make mistakes, and we made a few too many and really couldn’t get too much going on the offence.”

The news didn’t get any better when the Flames checked the results from around the hockey world.

Then again, the way things have been going lately, the crew from Calgary shouldn’t have been expecting much help on the out-of-town ticker.

Although the Flames have now lost back-to-back contests, it’s worth noting they have a 6-3-1 mark in their past 10 outings and have still slipped out of the elite eight.

And this rollercoaster ride is just getting started.

“We know it’s going to be tight. We know it’s going to be a fight right to the end,” said Flames left-winger Lance Bouma, who was credited with a game-high six hits against the Blues. “We just have to focus on ourselves. We have to make sure that we put this one behind us. Obviously, learn from it but don’t dwell on it and make sure we are ready for the next game.”

Next up is Thursday’s clash with the Philadelphia Flyers at the Saddledome (7 p.m., Sportsnet West, Sportsnet 960 The Fan).